Nature Moncton Nature News: June 29 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 29, 2024

Nature Moncton members, as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond, are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise both the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Louise Nichols sends some photos of small things taken in their yard and woods. She includes a couple of Hoverflies (ID on photos thanks to Anthony Thomas), an Ichneumon Wasp, a Jumping Spider, a Filmy Dome Spider, a Cranefly, a Twice-stabbed Stink Bug, and a Robber Fly. The Robber Fly is with prey and research online points out that these flies will pierce the body of their prey with their proboscis in order to inject an enzyme to kill their prey as the fly in Louise's photo appears to be doing. Louise would appreciate any corrections or elaborations on the ID of these insects.

**Shelley Murphy captured a photo on Friday morning at East Point (below Loggieville, near Miramichi) of a family of Common Merganser. The fledgling plumage of this species is striking.

**Deana and Peter Gadd visited Hay Island on Friday and came across a number (at least 5) of Short-tailed Swallowtail butterflies. Peter got a photo of one, presumably a female, on one of its host plants Scotch Lovage, perhaps about to lay eggs.

(Editor’s note: the worldwide distribution of the Short-tailed Swallowtail butterfly is at certain shoreline sites along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Hay Island is one of those sites where its larval food plant of Scotch Lovage and Cow Parsnip are common.)

They also saw a Common Loon, non-breeding immature, at Hay Island. Interesting to see its leg so far to the back on its body and out of the water like a canoe paddle!

Earlier at Oak Point, they came across a flock of 100 or more Common Terns very actively feeding just offshore. They wondered if they were getting food for their nestlings which should just about now be hatched in their breeding colony, possibly nearby Portage Island.

Where the terns were fishing an adult Common Loon was on the water and at least two Northern Gannets were in the air above. Unusual to see gannets so far up the Miramichi Bay.

**Brian Stone sends a few week-old photos he took in Hampton while visiting family for a week. These photos were taken at the Hampton lagoons during several of Brian's walks around the lagoon trails. He was barely able to spot the tiny Least Skipper that was nectaring on Forget-Me-Not flowers. Brian soon noticed that there were many of the small skippers flitting about at the edge of the trail. He also was surprised by a Milbert's Tortoiseshell Butterfly that snuck up on him at the entrance to the lagoon trail just at the parking lot. Not one that he has seen very often.

(Editor's note: the Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly is one of our handful of butterfly species that overwinters as an adult. It is not as common as other overwintering adults and is always a prize to observe.)

Several duck families at different stages from very young to young adult were on the lagoon at the same time, and Brian photographed some fuzzy Common Goldeneye ducklings that were feeding near him.

A White-tailed Deer was also feeding in the same area but on the other side of the trail.

Turkey Vultures were lined up on the lagoon fence waiting to warm up with the warming atmosphere, so they could begin gliding up into the sky to start their day.

As Brian walked near the water-filled ditch beside the trail at the far end of the lagoons he heard and saw a minor commotion going on in the water that was partially obscured by intervening plant life. He had trouble getting focus with the camera, so he missed getting a good photo of the activity. The best he can tell from the images is that he was witnessing a frog eating a fellow frog. It appeared to be quite a meal.

**Recently, Deana Gadd found the uncommon Loesel’s Twayblade orchid aka Fen Orchid (Laparis loeselii) in Miramichi at a very unexpected site in the yard of a long vacated Zellers store only recently demolished.
Nelson Poirier visited the site on Friday and with Deana’s step-by-step directions located the site of several of these very small easily overlooked but striking orchids that he had never seen before. He was able to get several photos of them (on his belly with the assistance of sniffer dog Sadie!) now in their prime bloom.

It is surprising how this site is habitat to plants one would normally expect to see in a bog. There were dozens of Rose Pogonia orchids a.k.a. Snakemouth, in peak bloom as well as an abundance of Sundew plants that were almost ready to bloom.
The Sundew plant attracts insects to its sticky fibers to close in on them when trapped and then digests them.

**The New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund publishes a list of events they are aware of for the coming month. The list for July is below and clicking on any of the items opens it up for more information.

The NBEN is proud to share information on upcoming events available to those interested in the environment. If you would like your event to appear in our monthly calendar email, please make sure to post it on our online calendar by logging into the Eco-Community and filling in the details here.